Rabbi destroys fear of Nazis with World at War

Writer and rabbi Micah Kelber played through Call of Duty: World At War recently, and despite having a good time playing it, he felt it was emotionally cathartic as well.

So much so, in fact, that he now no longer fears Nazis. The game had “subconsciously flipped a switch,” he said, writing in Jewish paper, The Forward.

“The feeling that Nazis were a threat to my existence was created by teachers and rabbis, rightly making sure that I knew my history. In truth, that specific anxiety was not real, but virtual. And I could vanquish it virtually, as well.”

Kelber added:

“One of the tragedies of World War II, and war in general, is that it puts simple dichotomies, as opposed to realistic complexities, into our minds.

“Understanding the horrors of war through playing games that illustrate the complexities of violence may even help us resist the real thing,” he said.